Winter storm strikes Mid-Atlantic; 250,000 lose power

Pilot John Harsh shovels snow off of the tail of his Cessna 172 airplane at the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport during heavy snow Wednesday in Weyers Cave, Va. Some areas of the Central Shenandoah Valley received over a foot of snow from Winter Storm Saturn Wednesday.
(AP Photo/The Daily News-Record, Michael Reilly)

WASHINGTON — A winter storm marched into the Mid-Atlantic region Wednesday, dumping nearly two feet of snow in some places and knocking out power to about 250,000 homes and businesses. It largely spared the nation’s capital, which was expecting much worse and had all but shut down.

Officials in Washington didn’t want a repeat of 2011, when a rush-hour snowstorm stranded commuters for hours, so they told people to stay off the roads and gave workers the day off. Dubbed the “snowquester,” the storm closed federal government offices, just as the automatic budget cuts known as the sequester were expected to do.

The storm pummeled the nation’s midsection on Tuesday, killing at least four people in weather-related traffic accidents. It was forecast to head to the northeast on Thursday, bringing strong winds, more snow and the possibility of coastal flooding to New England.

The National Weather Service was predicting up to 7 inches of heavy, wet snow in southeastern Connecticut through Friday morning and wind gusts that could hit 50 mph, bringing possible power outages. A coastal flood warning was in effect starting Thursday morning for east-facing shores in Massachusetts, with up to a 3-foot surge at high tide in some areas. Central Massachusetts was bracing for 4 to 8 inches of snow, while Boston was expected to get a little less.

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In Washington, where as much as 10 inches had been forecast, the storm did little but drop harmless snowflakes that rapidly melted amid warmer-than-expected temperatures. Federal offices in the region will be open Thursday.

“They just say that it might snow and the whole city shuts down,” said Sheri Sable, who was out walking her two dogs in light rain and marveled at how even the dog park she frequents failed to open at 7 a.m.

There were bigger problems elsewhere in the region, though.

On the Jersey Shore, still recovering from Superstorm Sandy, winds gusted past 60 mph in some parts. Winds raked the beachfront in Point Pleasant Beach, blowing drifts of sand onto Ocean Avenue, and shredding the decorative entrance canopy at a hotel across the street from the beach.

Lashing winds also blew off part of the roof of a Stone Harbor, N.J., condominium complex and Ocean City officials advised residents to move their cars to higher ground in preparation of possible flooding. Maryland’s Bay Bridge, which connects Maryland’s Eastern shore with the Baltimore-Washington region, closed in both directions, because of wind gusts of up to 60 mph.

A tractor-trailer overturned on the bridge and leaned against the guardrail. Kelly Kiley, an interior designer, was driving on the span soon after the accident.

“The travel on the bridge was extremely scary,” Kiley said. “The crosswinds were terrible. Some of the taller box trucks were swaying.”

The bridge reopened Wednesday evening.

In North Carolina, state officials said high winds led to sound side flooding along N.C. 12 and brought the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry run to a halt.

In Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency and about 50 National Guard soldiers were sent out to help clear roads. Up to 20 inches of snow piled up in central and western parts of the state. More than 200,000 people in Virginia alone lost power and another 40,000 in New Jersey were left in the dark. Hundreds of wrecks were reported around the region.

“Stay off the roads, stay inside, enjoy the day off,” McDonnell implored residents at an early-afternoon news briefing.

In Richmond, most commuters appeared to be headed home by midday with the exception of Clint Davis, an attorney who was needed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

“Unless they canceled court, I had to be here,” said Davis, who was wearing a hooded slicker over his suit to shield himself from gobs of snow blown from trees. “I’ll be here for two or three hours and come out to a snow-covered car.”

The storm dumped 2 feet of snow in parts of West Virginia, closing schools in more than half the state and leaving more than 20,000 customers without power.

Some communities in Washington’s outer suburbs saw significant accumulation too, including in Loudoun County, which had 9 inches in some places.

In Sterling, Va., a glaze of slush and snow coated major roads and side streets, but traffic was relatively light and plow trucks passed through repeatedly. Many retailers were closed. Only a handful of customers patronized the Glory Days Grill. Carolyn Donahue was working from home and trekked out with her husband, Tom, for a lunch break without any trouble on slushy but passable roads.

“I don’t consider this a big storm,” he said.

Downtown Washington was unusually quiet. Officials eager to avoid a repeat of 2011 pre-emptively shut down federal offices and canceled public schools. Non-emergency federal employees were treated to a paid snow day for the number of hours they were scheduled to work.

Some congressional hearings were postponed, but the House of Representatives managed to approve legislation to prevent a government shutdown on March 27 and President Barack Obama was set to have dinner with GOP senators at a hotel on Wednesday night.

The Baltimore-Washington area’s last major snowstorm struck Jan. 26, 2011. It hit Washington during the evening rush hour, causing some motorists to be stuck in traffic nearly overnight. It dropped 5 inches on Washington and 7.8 inches on Baltimore, knocked out power to about 320,000 homes and contributed to six deaths. The federal government later changed its policies to allow workers to leave their offices sooner or to work from home if major storms are expected.

The current storm led to at least four deaths. A semi-trailer slid off a snow-covered interstate in western Wisconsin, killing two people. A central Indiana woman died when a semi-trailer plowed into her car after she lost control merging onto the highway, and a man from Columbia City in northeast Indiana was killed when his snowmobile left the road, headed across a field and crashed into a wire fence.

The storm brought around 10 inches of snow to weather-hardened Chicago on Tuesday, prompting the closing of schools and the cancellation of more than 1,100 flights at the city’s two major airports. Hundreds more flights were canceled Wednesday at Dulles and Reagan National airports in the Washington area, according to FlightAware.com.

In Pennsylvania and Ohio, many areas had 4 to 6 inches of snow. The weather service issued a winter storm warning for the Philadelphia area and parts of central Pennsylvania through Thursday morning.